


Welcome to the World

by live_laugh_read



Series: Billabong Missing Moments [23]
Category: Billabong Series - Mary Grant Bruce
Genre: F/M, Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2018-09-19 11:06:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9437357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/live_laugh_read/pseuds/live_laugh_read
Summary: Wally Meadows never expected to feel the way he did, the night he became a father.





	

The sun had long since set over the flats, but still Wally Meadows stared out of the window of the sitting-room, using his palms to rest on the sill.  Lizzie had come to him several hours ago with a mug of tea, which sat forgotten on the table behind him. 

 

It was the longest night of his experience, barring those spent in the trenches during the War, and the night Norah had gone missing on their honeymoon eighteen months ago. It didn’t help that every ten minutes or so — it had been twenty, five hours ago, but was increasing in frequency — he would hear a guttural scream from upstairs. He never seemed to notice himself gritting his teeth until the tense moment passed, and his body relaxed of its own accord.

 

_I should be up there with her, not standing down here waiting._

 

And yet, he knew there was nothing he could do. It was in the hands of the medical professionals, and God. 

 

“Master Wally?” 

 

He turned to see Elodie, the doctor’s assistant, standing in the doorway. Since her arrival with the doctor more than twenty-four hours ago, she had been in near-constant orbit, assisting the doctor and giving Wally updates every few hours.

 

Not knowing what news she brought, he simply stared at her, unable to bring himself to utter the question that was in his mind. 

 

“It’s over.” 

 

With those two words, something seemed to break inside Wally, and he gripped the back of a chair, the relief washing over him like a cool breeze. It was over at last. The long night of Norah’s suffering was ended, and the dawn had come… but what did it bring? “What… what’s the news?” 

 

Elodie dropped her shoulders and lifted her chin, looking him square in the eye, her own eyes twinkling suddenly. “It is my proud duty to inform you that Mrs Meadows has been safely delivered of a son.” 

 

It was as though a dam had broken, and all he could do was stare at her. “A son? My son? And she’s safe?” 

 

“They both are. Would you like to see them?” 

 

Wordlessly, he nodded and followed her through the hall and up the stairs. The rest of the house was dark and silent except for the wing where his and Norah’s room was. This area was flooded with light, with Lizzie and a couple of maids on stand-by with clean towels and spare basins for warm water.

 

He thanked Lizzie with a grim nod, turning into the doorway of the bedroom he shared with his wife. For a moment, all he could do was stand in the doorway, all thought of anything else besides his family having fled. 

 

In the queen bed before him, glistening with beads of cool water which had been used to clean off the sweat, her white nightgown soaked through, cradling in her arms a small bundle, was Norah. Her brown hair tumbled around her face, falling past her shoulders, and when she looked up at him her eyes filled with happy tears. _We did it_ , she mouthed.

 

Wally was hardly aware of striding forward to her, his gaze transfixed on the two in the bed. Sitting down beside her, he dropped an arm around her shoulder and kissed her forehead, before turning his gaze to the tiny baby in her arms. 

 

Wrapped in a light blue blanket with only his red face on display, Wally’s son seemed to be perfection. A tuft of black hair stuck out from underneath the blanket, and his eyes were squeezed shut, his small lips puckered up. The rise and fall of his small chest seemed barely discernible beneath the blanket, the baby’s lungs taking their first breaths in a new world. 

 

For several long moments, how many he did not know, Wally stared at the baby, until Norah’s hoarse voice broke him from his reverie. “He has dark blue eyes. Anderson thinks they’ll shift to brown over time.” 

 

He tore his eyes away from their son, his free hand coming up to cup Norah’s neck as he kissed her, his mind hammering out a mantra of _thank you, thank you, thank you_. He did not know who he was thanking: God, or his wife; both had played a part in giving him the family of which he had dreamed for so long.

 

When they broke apart, foreheads touching, he whispered, his voice breaking, “David Edward.” The name had come to him the first time he had laid eyes on their baby, and to him there seemed no other name that would fit the boy.

 

“Really?” she whispered, hardly believing it. Her eyes searched his, pupils twitching from side to side, looking for confirmation. He nodded. 

 

They drew apart, simultaneously looking down again at the small child between them, in her arms. “Welcome to the world, David Edward Meadows,” he breathed, putting out a finger to stroke the newly-named David’s small nose.

 

“Do you want to hold him?” Norah asked, and she helped him shift the baby into his arms. He stood, crossing to the window as Norah lay back against the pillows, exhausted. The curtains were drawn slightly open, and a sliver of silver moonlight bathed David’s face as Wally stood on the spot, utterly fascinated. In his twenty-six years, he had been in close proximity with plenty of children, but never ones of this age, only minutes old.

 

And certainly never his own. 

 

Turning, he smiled wryly, seeing that Norah had fallen asleep, tired out from the long, ardous hours spent delivering David. The doctor and Elodie were quietly packing up on the other side of the room, and Elodie came to show him how to lay his son in the new wooden cradle without waking him, and tuck him in. It was, after all, autumn — the boy’s first winter was imminent. 

 

Wally walked the doctor and Elodie outside to the car, listening to the doctor’s stern instructions on how to look after a newborn baby. They stopped on the verandah outside the front door while Elodie went to load up the car for the seventeen-mile return journey to Cunjee. 

 

“I’ve seen long labours in my time, but the closest any of them come to Norah’s is twenty-eight hours. She’ll be fairly beat after tonight, so make sure she gets plenty of rest. She’s to stay in bed for at least a week, and I’ll come then to check on her and the boy.” Wally nodded in understanding, and the doctor added, “There’ll be at least a six-week clearance period before she’s allowed to fully return to normal life. Riding, heavy lifting, the usual, you understand me?” 

 

“Crystal clear, Doctor.” Wally offered his hand, and the other man gripped it tight. “Thank you, sir. I’m indebted to you. Norah couldn’t have been in better hands.” 

 

Dr. Anderson looked behind him into the still blackness of the front hall. “It’s been my honour to look after her throughout this whole process. I never thought, when I delivered her twenty-four years ago, that I’d see this happen…” 

 

Wally laughed: the doctor had indeed been the professional present at both Jim and Norah’s births, so if anyone knew her medical history, it would be him. “Well, you can sleep easy now.” 

 

“And so can you. Make sure you get plenty, young Wally. You’ve got some trying times ahead, and you’ll need all the sleep you can get so you can just about hold off reeling from fatigue.” 

 

With another amiable handshake, the two men bade farewell, Wally leaning on the verandah railing to watch Dr. Anderson and Elodie get into the car and drive off, the car’s headlights the only lights for miles around, save the stars twinkling above. 

 

Wally raised a hand in farewell, before turning and walking back inside. He met Lizzie, who was turning off the sitting-room light and setting the chair he had occupied at some point to rights. “Thanks, Lizzie. Listen, don’t get up early, you can sleep in. If we wake up I’ll get breakfast for us both — toast or something. I’m awfully sorry I didn’t drink your tea.”

 

She waved his apologies away with her hand and a smile. “It must have been trying enough for you as it is, sir. At least you knew it was there. Goodnight, sir — and congratulations.” 

 

Sighing, Wally used the railing to haul his wearied body upstairs — _Norah’s probably feeling ten times worse_ — and into their bedroom. Since his earlier departure with the doctor, Norah had shifted, sliding down on the mattress and burrowing her face into the pillow. He knew she was tired, but she still needed to change her nightgown… 

 

“Norah?” he whispered, shaking her ever so slightly. His quest for a clean nightgown had been in vain, Norah having used up her small supply during the long twenty-five hour labour, so in lieu of bedclothes he had one of his shirts, which he was certain would fit her. 

 

She came awake with a groan and a sigh, blinking several times before her eyes focused on him. He helped her change, and then lay her down ever so gently on the bed, knowing from her little grunts that her body ached. 

 

Throwing her dirty nightgown on the floor in their ensuite bathroom, he returned to the cradle, in which David still slept peacefully. “In the morning we’ll introduce you to the world,” he murmured, “but not at this God-forsaken hour. Sleep tight, son.” 

 

He changed quickly into his sleep clothes and slid under the covers, an unconscious Norah shifting closer to him and into his waiting arms. Sleep rapidly overtook him, until he was no longer aware of the world around him.


End file.
